Lead Automation Engineer

Position Overview

Serves as the enterprise technical leader for automation, controls, and industrial systems strategy across manufacturing operations. This role provides expert-level leadership in defining automation architecture, technical standards, and best practices that drive safe, reliable, scalable, and secure operations.

In this role, the senior individual contributor influences technical direction across multiple facilities through engineering governance, design leadership, and deep subject-matter expertise. The role collaborates closely with Engineering, Operations, IT, Cybersecurity, and Capital Project teams to deliver advanced automation solutions that support operational performance, innovation, and long-term business growth.

• Serve as the senior technical authority for automation and control systems across manufacturing operations.
• Develop, implement, and maintain enterprise standards for PLCs, HMI/SCADA platforms, industrial networking, historians, and OT architectures.
• Establish best practices for automation lifecycle management, including design, validation, commissioning, documentation, change management, and long-term system sustainability.
• Drive standardization initiatives that improve reliability, maintainability, and scalability across sites.

• Lead technical reviews for automation systems supporting capital projects, facility expansions, and complex system implementations.
• Provide design oversight, technical approval, and strategic guidance for internally developed and third-party automation solutions.
• Partner with IT and Cybersecurity teams to advance OT/IT integration while ensuring cybersecurity, resiliency, compliance, and operational continuity.
• Champion modern automation strategies aligned with industry best practices and emerging technologies.

• Act as the senior automation technical resource for major capital investments, minimizing technical risk and ensuring robust, scalable system designs.
• Support projects from concept development through engineering, commissioning, startup, and operational stabilization.
• Collaborate with OEMs, system integrators, and project stakeholders to ensure successful implementation and performance outcomes.
• Provide technical leadership for greenfield, brownfield, and modernization initiatives.

• Serve as the escalation point for critical automation and controls challenges impacting safety, reliability, or production performance.
• Lead complex root cause analyses involving automation failures, system performance issues, and operational constraints.
• Develop sustainable corrective actions and enterprise-wide improvements that strengthen system robustness and operational resilience.

• Mentor automation engineers and technical leaders through coaching, design reviews, and knowledge sharing.
• Develop automation standards, technical playbooks, training materials, and engineering best practices.
• Foster continuous learning and elevate enterprise automation capability across the organization.

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Controls Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related technical discipline.
• 8-10+ years of progressive experience in automation, controls engineering, and industrial systems within manufacturing environments.
• Advanced expertise in PLC programming, HMI/SCADA systems, industrial networking, and automation integration.
• Experience supporting large-scale capital projects, multi-site operations, or facility startup/expansion initiatives.
• Strong understanding of OT cybersecurity principles, industrial network security, and OT/IT convergence.
• Experience with data historians, SQL databases, MES/manufacturing data systems, and digital manufacturing technologies.
• Background within high-speed manufacturing, industrial processing, or consumer products environments.